Sex sells…burgers

Corvales Grant

Hardees’s Restaurant is a hot topic, and not because of it’s food. Hardees’s commercials from “Hot Chicks Eating Burgers” to the latest  “Miss Turkey” ads have had an alarming affect on the public.

These commercials appear sexist and tasteless. Not only are the ads itself a problem, but also Hardees’s attitude in justifying the ads is both arrogant and disrespectful. Hardees’s basically states that they put on the ads because they are targeted towards big guys who like big burgers.

And what attracts big guys who like big burgers – half naked women.

Hardees’s “Miss Turkey” commercial has Miss Turkey walking around a pool seductively eating Hardees’s new turkey burger. As she walks she is wearing a turkey burger patterned, two-piece bikini.


So consumers are to purchase this new turkey burger due to this commercial? I guess the message is that the burger is so good that this beauty pageant, model type woman will even indulge in it. Maybe Hardees’s wants consumers to believe that if they were to walk into their local restaurant then a “Miss Turkey” like woman would be there for their viewing pleasure.

Women have always been objectified by commercial advertisements. From beer, to cars, women and their bodies have been used sell consumers a dream. Consumers believe that the women in the ads represent the women in society. In actuality, there are a very small percent of women that look or would even partake in any of the activities portrayed in the commercials. I doubt that any women.

The most disturbing part of Hardees’s commercials is the “Anthem” ad, where one employee, female employee at that, states that they use “hot models in their commercials because ugly ones don’t sell burgers.” This statement, which is seconded by one of the “hot models”, is the most sexist of these ads.

So here’s what I believe Hardees’s:

The objectification of women is an old story that we are tired of hearing. The “Budweiser” way of advertising is not effective. You want to be creative and find new ways to introduce a new product or spotlight your food that is OK; by all means it is the purpose of advertising business.

However, there is a better way, a less offensive way to get people to eat your food. Then to justify your actions by simply saying it’s “Just the way it is” is arrogant and wrong on various levels. That is not the way it is, that is how you have made it. A good product should speak for itself and not need to rely on propaganda. So Hardees’s if your food is as tasty as your advertisements claim then just expose the product and allow the consumers to come to you. Do not try to create a shock value, or publicity tool that is offensive, degrading, demoralizing, and just down right, I say again, wrong.

So in essence let’s put an end to the objectification of women. It only shows that we think they are about as equal to what goes between your buns – meat. And that’s how “it should be.”